Register      Login
Australian Mammalogy Australian Mammalogy Society
Journal of the Australian Mammal Society
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > AM > AM10002
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 32(2)

The diet of some New Guinean dasyurid marsupials

G. L. Grossek A C , P. A. Woolley A D and J. I. Menzies B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Zoology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Vic. 3086, Australia.

B Jordan Laboratory DP427, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.

C Present address: Department of Sustainability and Environment, 8 Nicholson Street, Melbourne, Vic. 3002, Australia.

D Corresponding author. Email: p.woolley@latrobe.edu.au

Australian Mammalogy 32(2) 145-155 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM10002
Submitted: 6 January 2010  Accepted: 5 May 2010   Published: 5 August 2010

Abstract

We investigated the diets of five forest-dwelling species of dasyurid marsupials endemic to New Guinea by using faecal and gut content analysis and compared the contents with the results of pitfall trapping for terrestrial invertebrates carried out coincidently. In one study area, in montane forest 2060–2340 m above sea level, three dasyurid species were trapped. In another area, in forest 1000–1470 m above sea level, two other species were captured. All five species ate a diverse range of invertebrates but beetles (Coleoptera) and spiders (Araneae) formed the bulk of their diet, followed by grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera). Earthworms (Annelida) were eaten by all species and some vertebrate remains were found in samples from four species. We found some significant differences between diets of the sympatric species. Some of the invertebrates commonly collected in pitfall traps, such as isopods (Isopoda) and amphipods (Amphipoda), were rarely detected in the diets of any of the species and millipedes (Diplopoda) and centipedes (Chilopoda) were never detected. Our results are broadly in agreement with what is known about the diets of the small Australian species of dasyurid marsupials.

Additional keywords: Phascolosorex dorsalis, Murexia naso, Murexia habbema, Murexia melanurus, Murexia longicaudata.


Acknowledgements

This study was carried out with financial support from La Trobe University and PNG Forest Products Ltd Approval to undertake the study was given by the Government of Papua New Guinea and the Morobe Provincial Government. Laboratory facilities and lodgings were provided for Grossek and Woolley by the Wau Ecology Institute. We are grateful to Dr A. Allison and Dr T. New for assistance in various ways, including identification of frogs and reptiles (Allison) and insects (New); to Dr M. Hutchinson for identification of vertebrate bones; to Peter Brown for instruction in the technique for detecting earthworm chaetae and to Michael Buka, Hereon Yori, Petrus Sipango and Diro Manawe for assistance in the field.


References

Allison A. (1982). Distribution and ecology of New Guinea lizards. In ‘Biogeography and Ecology of New Guinea’. (Ed. J. L. Gressitt.) pp. 803–813. (Dr Junk Publishers: The Hague.)

Archer M. (Ed.) (1982). ‘Carnivorous Marsupials.’ (Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales: Sydney.)

Chen, X. , Dickman, C. R. , and Thompson, M. B. (1998). Diet of the mulgara, Dasycercus cristicauda (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae), in the Simpson Desert, central Australia. Wildlife Research 25, 233–242.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Flannery T. F. (1995). ‘Mammals of New Guinea.’ (Reed Books: Chatswood.)

Fox, B. J. , and Archer, E. (1984). The diets of Sminthopsis murina and Antechinus stuartii (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae) in sympatry. Australian Wildlife Research 11, 235–248.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Gressitt J.L. , and Nadkarni N. (1978). ‘Guide to Mt Kaindi: Background to Montane New Guinea Ecology.’ (Ecology Institute: Wau.)

Grossek G. L. (1987). The diet of some New Guinean dasyurid marsupials. M.Sc. Thesis, La Trobe University, Bundoora.

Hall, S. (1980). The diets of two coexisting species of Antechinus (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae). Australian Wildlife Research 7, 365–378.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Hume I. D. (1999). ‘Marsupial Nutrition.’ (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.)

Jones M. , Dickman C. , and Archer M. (Eds) (2003). ‘Predators with Pouches.’ (CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.)

Krajewski, C. , Buckley, L. , Woolley, P. A. , and Westerman, M. (1996). Phylogenetic analysis of cytochrome b sequences in the dasyurid marsupial subfamily Phascogalinae: systematics and the evolution of reproductive strategies. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 3, 81–91.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Menzies J. I. (2006). ‘Frogs of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.’ (Pensoft: Sophia.)

Morton, S. R. , Denny, M. J. S. , and Reid, D. G. (1983). Habitat preferences and diets of sympatric Sminthopsis crassicaudata and S. macroura (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae). Australian Mammalogy 6, 29–34.
Paijmans K. (1976). ‘New Guinea Vegetation.’ (ANU Press: Canberra.)

Read, D. G. (1987). Diets of sympatric Planigale gilesi and P. tenuirostris. (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae): relationships of season and body size. Australian Mammalogy 10, 11–21.
Sall J. , Lehman A. , and Creighton L. (2001). ‘JMP® Start Statistics: A Guide to Statistics and Data Analysis using JMP and JMP IN Software.’ 2nd edn. (Duxbury: Pacific Grove, CA.)

Siegel S. , and Castellan J. (1989). ‘Non-Parametric Statistics for the Behavioural Sciences.’ (McGraw-Hill: Singapore.)

Statham H. L. (1982). Antechinus stuartii (Dasyuridae Marsupialia). Diet and food availability at Petroi, north-eastern New South Wales. In ‘Carnivorous Marsupials’. (Ed. M. Archer.) pp. l5l–163. (Royal Zoology Society of New South Wales: Sydney.)

Van Dyck, S. (2002). Morphology based revision of Murexia and Antechinus (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 48, 239–330.
Woolley P. A. (1982). The laboratory maintenance of dasyurid marsupials. In ‘Management of Australian Mammals in Captivity’. (Ed. D. D. Evans.) pp. 13–21. (Zoological Board of Victoria: Melbourne.)

Woolley, P. A. (1984). Phallic morphology of the New Guinean species of Antechinus. Australian Mammal Society Bulletin 8, 182.[abstract]
Woolley P. A. (1993). Collection and laboratory maintenance of New Guinean dasyurid marsupials. In ‘The Biology and Management of Australasian Carnivorous Marsupials’. (Eds M. Roberts, J. Carnio, G. Crawshaw and M. Hutchins.) pp. 91–97. (American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums Monotreme and Marsupial Taxon Advisory Group: Washington, DC.)

Woolley, P. A. (1994). The dasyurid marsupials of New Guinea: use of museum specimens to assess seasonality of breeding. Science in New Guinea 20, 49–55.
Woolley P. A. (2003). Reproductive biology of dasyurid marsupials of New Guinea. In ‘Predators with Pouches: The Biology of Carnivorous Marsupials’. (Eds M. Jones, C. Dickman and M. Archer.) pp. 169–182. (CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.)

Woolley, P. A. (2005). Revision of the three-striped dasyures, genus Myoictis (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae). Records of the Australian Museum 57, 321–340.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Ziegler A. (1982). An ecological check-list of New Guinea recent mammals. In ‘Biogeography and Ecology of New Guinea’. (Ed. J. L. Gressitt.) pp. 863–896. (Dr Junk Publishers: The Hague.)